So although Soundcloud's wikipedia page looks sparse and lacking in information, it was difficult to think of anything that wasn't already summarized by previous posters. I ended up adding a statement to the "Features" block about the groups on Soundcloud and their function as an innovative way of facilitating community online. I think in the future, this aspect of Soundcloud could warrant its own whole section of the wiki page because of the recent surge in use and popularity.
This project has helped me not only to discover many new features of this site I had no idea existed, but it also put some of the features and functions in perspective by providing theories through which these activities can be understood.
Showing posts with label practicum 7. Show all posts
Showing posts with label practicum 7. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Practicum 7 - A Final Wrap Up
I've spent a lot of time this semester researching, making a powerpoint, rereading articles, applying concepts, and writing this paper all for the sake of this practicum. I chose to do my practicum project on specialized information sites and in even more detail I picked a very heavily commented articled entitled "Creating an effective Facebook Post" by Carley Knobloch on the information website eHow. While I did learn a few new aspects of the new Facebook in the article what I learned most was how specialized information sites affect the concept of collective intelligence and the community on these types of sites are very user information consuming. Articles are written to teach and inform instead of be critiqued and analyzed. The site eHow does accurately fit Pierre Levy's three aspects of Collective Intelligence. While the real-time coordination of intelligence is a bit of a stretch it can be argued that authors can upload their articles onto the site as soon as they're written. For the most part specialized information sites such as eHow are an endless source of information that allows users to gain and understand skills that they did not have before. Facebook has become a very important part of the internet and is used as the way to post comments on an eHow article. While the community on the actual site is not very active, the eHow page on Facebook is updated with new articles where users from all across the globe constantly comment and debate different ways and tips to enhance each users experience with the article. In the end I searched and read through many how-to articles to find one that showed community and that interested me. When I found the article that fit my needs I was able to learn and discover about the idea of collective intelligence.
Practicum 7 - Wrapping Things Up
I figured I would use this final practicum post to kind of summarize some of the experiences I had on Kongregate. Over the course of the semester, I participated in various parts of the Kongregate forums, as well as some attempts to interact with the Kongregate chat rooms. On the forums, I posted just under 300 posts over the course of the semester (20-25 a week). I also spent time on the chat rooms, although I had almost no success in making networks with the chat rooms.
On the forums, it took a solid month of posts before I was acknowledged with any amount of seriousness. The Kongregate community niches, at least the few that I participated in, seemed to be resistant to new comers. But, through persistence, I was able to carve out my spot and my answers began to fit in the persona that the other users came to expect. This is the first time I spend a continued amount of time on one forum (usually a bounce around 5-8 different ones without ever being a regular contributor). I hadn't expected to have to put in so much time to gain acceptance into the community.
I would imagine part of the community's hesitance comes from two main reasons. First, the community as a whole seems to be pretty young, probably 13-17 for the most part. I would imagine that the people who were posting in 'Serious Discussion' where I spent most of my time would be hesitant to take somebody who had a grand total of zero posts before I started this project seriously right away. Second, many people on the forums seem to, at the very least, try to troll. There are a ridiculous amount of troll alts on this site among the forums, I would imagine when people saw me roll in, that they thought I was just another troll alt.
In short, I was only really able to make a real connection with one other person on the forums. Generally when posting I tried to be confrontational which didn't foster many friendly connections among the other members. But, it was interesting to see some of the theories that Danny discussed in lecture play out within the Kongregate community.
On the forums, it took a solid month of posts before I was acknowledged with any amount of seriousness. The Kongregate community niches, at least the few that I participated in, seemed to be resistant to new comers. But, through persistence, I was able to carve out my spot and my answers began to fit in the persona that the other users came to expect. This is the first time I spend a continued amount of time on one forum (usually a bounce around 5-8 different ones without ever being a regular contributor). I hadn't expected to have to put in so much time to gain acceptance into the community.
I would imagine part of the community's hesitance comes from two main reasons. First, the community as a whole seems to be pretty young, probably 13-17 for the most part. I would imagine that the people who were posting in 'Serious Discussion' where I spent most of my time would be hesitant to take somebody who had a grand total of zero posts before I started this project seriously right away. Second, many people on the forums seem to, at the very least, try to troll. There are a ridiculous amount of troll alts on this site among the forums, I would imagine when people saw me roll in, that they thought I was just another troll alt.
In short, I was only really able to make a real connection with one other person on the forums. Generally when posting I tried to be confrontational which didn't foster many friendly connections among the other members. But, it was interesting to see some of the theories that Danny discussed in lecture play out within the Kongregate community.
Wikipedia Post
I've never posted anything to Wikipedia and was actually kind of excited to see my contribution published on the site. I've heard that a lot of what people post gets cross-checked by some collective of editors, for relevance to the topic, accuracy, and grammar. I'm not entirely sure what criteria they use, but I could see why thats necessary, especially if people are going to Wikipedia for accurate knowledge. I wonder how fast it takes for a Wikipedia editor to spot a new post, I'm sure there's some sort of indicator that lets them know where revisions have been made. But even when an editor finds something out of place how do they determine whether or not its accurate? Obviously there are revisions that are clearly inaccurate and are the results of trolls, but I'm curious as to what that the standard is, and how they apply that criteria to the revisions.
Regardless, here's what I added to the MiGente.com Wikipedia
"MiGente.com has aesthetics comparable to Facebook.com and utilizes many of the same networking tools Facebook.com does, like friend requests, chat, tagging, etc. However, a key difference between MiGente.com and Facebook.com is that MiGente.com allows for more customization when it comes to your profile page. Also, unless customized by the user, anything posted on MiGente.com is public and users are also allowed to comment on anyones post, unlike Facebook.com, which automatically requires you to be friends with the person whose post you are commenting on."
I think this is accurate, hopefully the editors do too.
Regardless, here's what I added to the MiGente.com Wikipedia
"MiGente.com has aesthetics comparable to Facebook.com and utilizes many of the same networking tools Facebook.com does, like friend requests, chat, tagging, etc. However, a key difference between MiGente.com and Facebook.com is that MiGente.com allows for more customization when it comes to your profile page. Also, unless customized by the user, anything posted on MiGente.com is public and users are also allowed to comment on anyones post, unlike Facebook.com, which automatically requires you to be friends with the person whose post you are commenting on."
I think this is accurate, hopefully the editors do too.
Practicum Post: Wikipedia Mashup Page
I have had a lot of fun doing this project. My main focus through out the semester has been my work on my mix-tape Lil Peppa. I've never posted on wikipedia before and what better to than on the mashup page as a little tribute to what I have done. I do a sort of commentary addition under the "remix" category in the mash up post. I was confused why such a broad category would be a sub-section to a specific type of remix but whatever.
My addition...
"All mashups are remixes yes, but not vice-versa. Mashups are a category of remixes but only on the most basic level. Remixes can combine songs but it in addition they add other original layering to make the song more of a transformative work. An example of a popular remix artists that primarily remixes single songs but also mashes songs are The White Pandas. The chicago-based duo has emerged as one of the biggest upcoming DJ's. Their latest full length mash "Pandamonium" has received over 1 million downloads."
I don't really like the idea of posting on wikipedia especially with all the privacy settings I lose because of it. Since I am not registered to Wiki my addresses and IP number are stored as public records. Regardless of how I feel about posting I do think it does conclude this project well, sharing a glimpse of what I have been researching and spending the bulk of my time doing this semester.
"All mashups are remixes yes, but not vice-versa. Mashups are a category of remixes but only on the most basic level. Remixes can combine songs but it in addition they add other original layering to make the song more of a transformative work. An example of a popular remix artists that primarily remixes single songs but also mashes songs are The White Pandas. The chicago-based duo has emerged as one of the biggest upcoming DJ's. Their latest full length mash "Pandamonium" has received over 1 million downloads."
I don't really like the idea of posting on wikipedia especially with all the privacy settings I lose because of it. Since I am not registered to Wiki my addresses and IP number are stored as public records. Regardless of how I feel about posting I do think it does conclude this project well, sharing a glimpse of what I have been researching and spending the bulk of my time doing this semester.
Practicum 7
For my final blog post is venture to Wikipedia and search for the online network gaming page. Unfortunately there is no such page, so my next idea was to try and find the page for FIFA 12. After reading through the page I found that there was no mention of FIFA 12 Online mode, so I decided to write up a short summary basically describing what the online function does.
I mentioned how users connect with each other, and that they need a Xbox Live account to connect. I also touched on the fact that there are different game modes available on FIFA 12, including some multiplayer ones.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIFA_12
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIFA_12
Practicum 7 - CMC & Wikipedia
One of the most vital aspects that pulls together the virtual community within DC Universe Online is Computer-Mediated-Communication or CMC. CMC consists of any form of communication that takes place through multiple computers. At the begining of the game, there was very little CMC, as almost every line spoken to me, untill I reached level 4, were coming from the game and not an actual person. Once I began speaking to people, CMC completley took over my gaming experience and essentially ushered me into the real world of MMORPGs. CMC includes everything from chating with one other person, to chating with a group of people, to posting a message to whoever would enjoy reading the post, to sending someone a private message who will never know who sent the message, to group interviews were two existing members of a group or league will interview the user who desires to join their group. When I looked up CMC on the internet, I instantly found information detailing the synchronization and asynchronization of CMC, but was surprised to find no other information on other types of CMC. As a result, I decided to edit the section which listed the types of CMC.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer-mediated_communication#Types
Types
CMC can be divided into synchronous and asynchronous modes. In synchronous communications all participants are online at the same time (e.g. IRC), while asynchronous communications occurs with time constraints. (e.g. email). People choose asynchronous communication like email for delayed, controlled and longer messages. They also prefer email for negative emotion as they are distant from the receiver ("shielding" effect). On the other hand, people prefer synchronous communication like IM for immediate good news. They also use it because they can multitask while talking. CMC can also be divided into categories of how many people are communicating, how many people are they communicating with, and how are they communicating. Some examples are one-to-one communication, one-to-many communication, many-to-many communication, monologues, diologues, and multilogues.
In conclusion to my practicum project, I would like to say this was one of the best projects I have ever completed and thoroughly enjoyed every second of playing DC Universe Online and learning about MMORPGs and interactive media. It is amazing that such vast virtual worlds exists and that there are so many users who so strongly desire to be a part of a virtual world and community. I feel that there should be a ton more research going into MMORPGs because it is clear that such virtual communities are the communities of our future and it is clear that such games can create communities that cross borders, oceans, religions, races, and nationalities. If there was somehow a way that such virtual communities were created where users from 3rd world countries were able to learn and communicate with citizens of industrialized communities, the benefits are endless and could lead to such things as the end of hunger if people somehow managed to bring some form of currency into the game that can be transfered to the poorer users through gameplay, or education.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer-mediated_communication#Types
Types
CMC can be divided into synchronous and asynchronous modes. In synchronous communications all participants are online at the same time (e.g. IRC), while asynchronous communications occurs with time constraints. (e.g. email). People choose asynchronous communication like email for delayed, controlled and longer messages. They also prefer email for negative emotion as they are distant from the receiver ("shielding" effect). On the other hand, people prefer synchronous communication like IM for immediate good news. They also use it because they can multitask while talking. CMC can also be divided into categories of how many people are communicating, how many people are they communicating with, and how are they communicating. Some examples are one-to-one communication, one-to-many communication, many-to-many communication, monologues, diologues, and multilogues.
In conclusion to my practicum project, I would like to say this was one of the best projects I have ever completed and thoroughly enjoyed every second of playing DC Universe Online and learning about MMORPGs and interactive media. It is amazing that such vast virtual worlds exists and that there are so many users who so strongly desire to be a part of a virtual world and community. I feel that there should be a ton more research going into MMORPGs because it is clear that such virtual communities are the communities of our future and it is clear that such games can create communities that cross borders, oceans, religions, races, and nationalities. If there was somehow a way that such virtual communities were created where users from 3rd world countries were able to learn and communicate with citizens of industrialized communities, the benefits are endless and could lead to such things as the end of hunger if people somehow managed to bring some form of currency into the game that can be transfered to the poorer users through gameplay, or education.
Final Practicum: Remix Production
As my final practicum post I had to update a wikipedia entry, but I could not think of the right wikipedia page. The term "Remix" was just too broad, so I chose one of the sub-categories that were in the wikipedia page for "Remix". There was a sub-category titled "Remix in Media and Consumer Products", so I decided to add summary of my practicum post on remix and comedy. Honestly I really didn't know what to write about, and the idea of adding something to one of the worldwide content website scared me a bit.
I'm pretty sure that I am not the only one in this class that has never updated a wikipedia entry. Although I have used wikipedia for many purposes, I have never thought about actually adding something from my knowledge in the page. I didn't really know what to write about remix production, so I just decided to add some examples of the media that use remix strategies. The wikipedia page for the topic was already very thorough and detail,ed so my entry was very short and simple.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remix#Remix_in_media_and_consumer_products
I'm pretty sure that I am not the only one in this class that has never updated a wikipedia entry. Although I have used wikipedia for many purposes, I have never thought about actually adding something from my knowledge in the page. I didn't really know what to write about remix production, so I just decided to add some examples of the media that use remix strategies. The wikipedia page for the topic was already very thorough and detail,ed so my entry was very short and simple.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remix#Remix_in_media_and_consumer_products
Online Interest Group Practicum 7
It took a little while to find the right wikipedia page to add additional information or create. After much research and looking, it seemed the best Wikipedia that fit my "Online Interest Group" topic was the "Internet Forum" wikipedia. I chose this for a few reasons. Posting about interest groups under the game itself didn't fit at all, as the whole page talked about the game mechanics. Making an "Online Interest Group" Wiki page seemed too broad and specific at the same time (broad in the sense that it can include forums, chatrooms, websites, etc; specific in the sense that it doesn't encapsulate the topic well enough). Therefore, since most of my posts and interactions were within internet forums, I decided I would contribute to that.
However, before I go on, I must explain, that the Wikipedia page I wanted to edit was a partially protected page, therefore, I, as a regular user with no credentials on Wikipedia, could not edit the page. I had a few things I wanted to add on to it too, so I am going to explain them here:
Under the "Other Forum Features" section, I want to add that along with the inclusion of social media connectivity, there has been things borrowed and taken from social media sites and integrated into these forums. Likes and shares have been added to individual posts and threads. Sometimes, more prominently liked items gets talked about more, similar to many social networking sites. Along with this, I want to add that now it is accepted and not frowned upon to add images, videos, and other media outlets directly in posts. No longer do you have to PM people the videos, you can directly embed these videos directly in your public post.
I want to add a section specifically to talk about the culture of gaming forums, and the prominence of these forums. Not only are they useful, it helps developers connect and communicate with the community of players. This interaction is crucial for a well established game. They have a picture of a game forum and how it says internet forums are used in conjunction, but it really wasn't elaborated at all.
Overall, I think the internet forum article is very detailed already and not much needs to be added. It seemed to be pretty up to date.
However, before I go on, I must explain, that the Wikipedia page I wanted to edit was a partially protected page, therefore, I, as a regular user with no credentials on Wikipedia, could not edit the page. I had a few things I wanted to add on to it too, so I am going to explain them here:
Under the "Other Forum Features" section, I want to add that along with the inclusion of social media connectivity, there has been things borrowed and taken from social media sites and integrated into these forums. Likes and shares have been added to individual posts and threads. Sometimes, more prominently liked items gets talked about more, similar to many social networking sites. Along with this, I want to add that now it is accepted and not frowned upon to add images, videos, and other media outlets directly in posts. No longer do you have to PM people the videos, you can directly embed these videos directly in your public post.
I want to add a section specifically to talk about the culture of gaming forums, and the prominence of these forums. Not only are they useful, it helps developers connect and communicate with the community of players. This interaction is crucial for a well established game. They have a picture of a game forum and how it says internet forums are used in conjunction, but it really wasn't elaborated at all.
Overall, I think the internet forum article is very detailed already and not much needs to be added. It seemed to be pretty up to date.
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Senior Citizen Internet Use- Seven
For my Wikipedia post, the only relevant page I could find to edit was the AARP page. There was almost no information about the website on the page for the organization as a whole, so I put some of the basics about the site as well as some of its more commonly used features.
In my time using the message boards, the most active ones were for entertainment and food and online games, so I mentioned those in my edit.
I also wrote about the games section of the AARP site, which gets used quite often from what I can tell. I mentioned the leaderboard where users can see how they compare to others, and also said that the two most popular games are solitaire and mahjong, which kind of shows that they play the same games online that they probably did offline.
In my time using the message boards, the most active ones were for entertainment and food and online games, so I mentioned those in my edit.
I also wrote about the games section of the AARP site, which gets used quite often from what I can tell. I mentioned the leaderboard where users can see how they compare to others, and also said that the two most popular games are solitaire and mahjong, which kind of shows that they play the same games online that they probably did offline.
Media Fandom 7
Throughout the semester I have spent my time going through
many IMDb message boards and interacting with fellow television and film
lovers. I have posted a total of 54posts and have spent nearly 15 hours on IMDb. Through IMDb I have experienced and not
experienced what one might classify as an online community. For my last several posts I have made an even
greater attempt to make and feel a community while interacting with others on
the message boards. I have done so by
being more responsive to replies to my original posts or by continuing
conversation on other posts. In some
ways I think I have succeeded with the intuitive structure of the message
boards in creating an online community.
According
to the Wikipedia Online Community page, an online community is, “a virtual
community that exists online and whose members enable its existence through
taking part in membership ritual”. Although
IMDb message boards and it members fit the classification of an online
community. But I would have to have some disagreement with this. I think an instrumental part of feeling like
a community is formed is the interaction in which an individual applies to the membership
ritual. So I decided to edit part of the
Wikipedia Online Community page.
Unfortunately I had trouble being able to edit the actual webpage but
the following is what I would add to the page.
“Building a successful online community can be achieved through the
input of individual membership to an online community. An online community can be classified as such
among individuals with continual discussion on specific tropes”. I suggest that it must be a continual
discussion as it promotes a sense of a physical community thus traversing to
online.
The
addition that I make to the Wikipedia Online Community page is one in which I formulated
from my own experience with the IMDb message boards. I think that I have been successful in
certain aspects of feeling an online community.
Social Networking Sites - Post 7
For my last post, I decided take a more creative approach at pushing people to really understand how much social networking sites are affecting our lives. Since starting my practicum project and my experiences with 43Things, Google+, and LinkedIn, I have realized really how much SNS are running my life. 4 out of 5 internet users are visiting social networking or blogging sites. 76% of American social networking users are passive users - they're "spectators", making "creators" just a fourth of all the social network users. With these statistics, and many more that you can find at http://thesocialskinny.com/100-more-social-media-statistics-for-2012/, it becomes evident that these numbers are constantly increasing and that the majority of internet users are now using social networking sites. What started out as solely a college-student phenomenon, has shifted to more of a free-for-all type of experience. People are seeing friends, younger siblings, older siblings, mothers, fathers, grandmothers, grandfathers, professors, and much more on these sites. The important thing to realize when pertaining to these issues is the idea of online identity formation.
We must be careful in how we present ourselves, especially when we take a second to realize how is following us or who is friends with us. This is something I learned with the three sites I looked at. Not only could my identity shift between these sites, but also I was able to be more flexible in more informal situations (43Things) and less flexible on the formal sites (LinkedIn). To close my experience, I wanted to present a little game to you all - a play on the famous sporcle.com - if you haven't been on there, don't, especially during finals weeks because you'll never get off. But here it is.. take a look at the image presented below and see how many of these social networking sites you can identify - I think you'll be surprised.
We must be careful in how we present ourselves, especially when we take a second to realize how is following us or who is friends with us. This is something I learned with the three sites I looked at. Not only could my identity shift between these sites, but also I was able to be more flexible in more informal situations (43Things) and less flexible on the formal sites (LinkedIn). To close my experience, I wanted to present a little game to you all - a play on the famous sporcle.com - if you haven't been on there, don't, especially during finals weeks because you'll never get off. But here it is.. take a look at the image presented below and see how many of these social networking sites you can identify - I think you'll be surprised.
So the SNS take home message? These sites are controlling or lives. They're consuming our online time. They're running our professional and personal connections. It's is important to understand these sites and constantly be aware of the changes that are occurring. Be aware what is happening and be conscious of your personal presentation. Well, that's all folks - If there is anything I want you to take from my personal experience with social networking sites you just heard it! Feel free to ask any questions regarding my experience. I'd love to share more!
Monday, May 7, 2012
Social MOO: Final Post
For my final post, I took to Wikipedia to see what they had to say about LambdaMOO. I found information about history, layout, demographics and such, but nothing about just what it's like within the MOO. Thus, I added a section about the general atmosphere within the MOO. I only recently discovered and was able to experience the interactions of players within LambdaMOO, but what I found from firsthand experience agreed with what I had read of outside blogs about the game. Here is what I wrote in the section I added:
"Even as the population of active players on "LambdaMOO" has decreased greatly, the players still remaining are part of a tight community that have known each other for years. This makes it difficult for new players to integrate themselves into the community without putting in much time and effort, making addition of new players even less likely. Along with this tight-knit community comes special jargon and inside jokes that an outsider would have difficulty understanding. There is also a sexual overtone that contributes to much of the community, players might sometimes "greet" each other with some sort of sexual act. Apart from sexually laced conversation, much seems to revolve around coding and building within the world, which requires knowledge of that skill in order to understand."
Overall, I did find it very hard to immerse myself in the kind of community that I found in the MOO, though it likely didn't help that I discovered other players so late in the project. Along with the community there not necessarily wanting to talk to me, I found it hard to even find things to say because I didn't understand or wasn't comfortable with most conversations that I found.
It was kind of fun to add my experience to Wiki, although it's somewhat tainted with the fact that my entry will likely be taken down pretty soon. However, just knowing that I have the power to get information out to so many people, even for a short time, is a pretty cool feeling.
Over and out.
"Even as the population of active players on "LambdaMOO" has decreased greatly, the players still remaining are part of a tight community that have known each other for years. This makes it difficult for new players to integrate themselves into the community without putting in much time and effort, making addition of new players even less likely. Along with this tight-knit community comes special jargon and inside jokes that an outsider would have difficulty understanding. There is also a sexual overtone that contributes to much of the community, players might sometimes "greet" each other with some sort of sexual act. Apart from sexually laced conversation, much seems to revolve around coding and building within the world, which requires knowledge of that skill in order to understand."
Overall, I did find it very hard to immerse myself in the kind of community that I found in the MOO, though it likely didn't help that I discovered other players so late in the project. Along with the community there not necessarily wanting to talk to me, I found it hard to even find things to say because I didn't understand or wasn't comfortable with most conversations that I found.
It was kind of fun to add my experience to Wiki, although it's somewhat tainted with the fact that my entry will likely be taken down pretty soon. However, just knowing that I have the power to get information out to so many people, even for a short time, is a pretty cool feeling.
Over and out.
Sunday, May 6, 2012
Microblogging: Sammy Luterbach
Throughout the course of the semester, I have spent a lot of time on Twitter and Tumblr thinking about my actions as I went along. I think both microblogging sites are enormously interesting, but I find Twitter to be the most fascinating. The site is simultaneously fun and informative, but it has allowed me to make professional connections. I have been able to be a part of different communities and contribute to the content on the internet in my own way. It has been really cool to experience Twitter from a personal perspective and from a professional perspective. My personal account is fun because I can be my full self and express my personality while still participating in the communities I am a part of: the CollegeFashionista community, the fashion community in general, the UW-Madison and Madison communities, and observing the celebrity community. On my professional @CFUWisconsin, my goal is to create a community of our own. It's a lot of hard work that I need to think about creatively and professionally. My most recent goal has been to inject a specific personality into the brand, and I feel like I've been a bit more successful at that in the past work. I used more "I's" and "me's" and injected more opinions and fun photos into my tweets.
Since I really enjoyed working with Twitter, I decided to contribute to their Wikipedia page. Their page was protected so I just had to submit a request to edit, but I talked about the value of using Twitter for a business by saying, "Twitter is a great place for businesses to communicate with their customers in real-time and gain valuable insight from them. It's an easy way to be a part of a community and start your own community. It's also a great place to build relationships with customers, partners, and influencers online." I learned this information myself, but also found that Twitter.com/about said that same thing and used that as my reference.
Tumblr has been quite interesting as well. I found Tumblr to be most rewarding from a professional perspective because I had a clear goal: to gain the most reblogs, followers, and ultimately, direct attention to CollegeFashionista.com. I spent time testing which photos were the most accepted and loved ones by the community that follows us and hopes that it would allow us to gain for followers. I think I was fairly successful in doing so, since we have gained around 800 followers this semester and get way more reblogs than we ever have in the past. It has been like trying to develop a good formula for us, so it was fun experimenting. I tried finding a formula for my personal Tumblr, but I never really gained followers that weren't my friends. I think in order to do so, I would have to really advertise my blog on other social media outlets. I kind of enjoy keeping Tumblr to myself though. I feel like if I were to gain more followers, I would have more of a responsibility to follow a strict schedule everyday and maintain it. Right now, my Tumblr is an outlet for expression and creativity and a place to store inspirational photos I find online.
Since I really enjoyed working with Twitter, I decided to contribute to their Wikipedia page. Their page was protected so I just had to submit a request to edit, but I talked about the value of using Twitter for a business by saying, "Twitter is a great place for businesses to communicate with their customers in real-time and gain valuable insight from them. It's an easy way to be a part of a community and start your own community. It's also a great place to build relationships with customers, partners, and influencers online." I learned this information myself, but also found that Twitter.com/about said that same thing and used that as my reference.
Thursday, May 3, 2012
Practicum 7 - Edits & Reflections
Well I've finally managed to edit the reddit Wikipedia page, despite it still being semi-protected. I'll put a before and after screenshot in below to show what I added. It was a rather quick note about user karma, as I felt this was something that should be noted in the overview, considering I myself wondered what it even was when I started this project.
Anyway, so some final notes on this practicum project. I've actually learned a lot about the two sites I've been using. I guess I've come a long way from someone who read about reddit and "redditors" on memes, wondering what it was all about, and seeing the Digg logo at the bottom of some web pages, wondering what the heck it was. At least now I know what the sites are about and how they are alike/different. One thing I should mention is that I really found the Digg app to be quite cool. At first I didn't think I would like it because I thought you HAD to sign in using either facebook or twitter but once I figured out you could just use your Digg login I was on board. I kind of like the app better than the site actually...it looks cleaner in presentation and is simpler. But anyway, that was one feature I really enjoyed from Digg. Right up until the end (or I guess, right up until now), I can still definitely tell that one thing is for sure: Digg is for news, reddit is for...stuff...and sometimes news. I would say Digg fits the bill for "social news site" more than reddit simply based on content; if anything, I would want to call reddit a "social everything site," based on the fact that you never know what you're going to find on the front page. After doing this project, I'm pretty sure it won't be news that's there...
But a general comparison of the two would reveal a few things I've already mentioned: First, that Digg = news, reddit = social outlet with some scattered news stories. Digg users are more passive, not as active, and generally seem less interesting (a little harsh, I know). Reddit users, however, are very active, vocal, and are a pretty serious bunch when it comes to the internet. Neither site really has a "community" feel, but I would say Digg does better in that category based on the ability to have a limited profile and to follow other users (speaking of which I've gained two more - up to 32!). After all semester of using the sites though, I would have to say "social news sites" don't really work for me. I'll hit up reddit or Digg when I want to see what sort of news or things are popular, but if I want straight news or happenings, I'll probably just use MSN or something. I think that about wraps it up for this final post...think I've covered everything. For the paper I'm thinking of discussing community (or lack thereof), participatory culture, and something else, not positive yet. I am now a noob redditor - AMA!
But a general comparison of the two would reveal a few things I've already mentioned: First, that Digg = news, reddit = social outlet with some scattered news stories. Digg users are more passive, not as active, and generally seem less interesting (a little harsh, I know). Reddit users, however, are very active, vocal, and are a pretty serious bunch when it comes to the internet. Neither site really has a "community" feel, but I would say Digg does better in that category based on the ability to have a limited profile and to follow other users (speaking of which I've gained two more - up to 32!). After all semester of using the sites though, I would have to say "social news sites" don't really work for me. I'll hit up reddit or Digg when I want to see what sort of news or things are popular, but if I want straight news or happenings, I'll probably just use MSN or something. I think that about wraps it up for this final post...think I've covered everything. For the paper I'm thinking of discussing community (or lack thereof), participatory culture, and something else, not positive yet. I am now a noob redditor - AMA!
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Practicum 7-Foursquare
Overall I thought this was a very interesting project and something that I have never done in any other class. I think it's important to keep up with the increasing technology that surrounds us today because it is only going to get more and more advanced as time moves forward. I think that studying this type of thing is very helpful for college students to learn and understand because it is something that we use everyday and will continue to use more and more.
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